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Home invader sought after stabbing man inside Orange Co. house

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - Orange County deputies are searching for a person who stormed into a home, demanded cash, and then stabbed a man inside.

The incident occurred at a home near Lake Underhill and Dean roads in east Orange County.

Deputies have stepped up patrols and neighbors are calling for the man to turn himself in.

Deputies said the 34-year-old victim was inside his home Monday afternoon on Gerard Avenue when he heard a noise in the kitchen. They said he spotted the knife-wielding suspect inside who tried to rob him.

The suspect is described as white, 20-30 years old, 5 foot 8 inches tall, slim build, with a tattoo on his check and a scar on his lower lip.

The victim was the only one inside and tried to fend off the robber.

During the fight, deputies told us the man was stabbed several times in the neck and upper body.

Henry Cordero lives next door and said the victim is the father of Greek immigrants who own a restaurant in Orange County.

He was troubled to see the home sealed off with crime tape and learn his neighbor was brutally attacked.

"They're great people, hard-working people," Cordero said.

Cordero said the incident is alarming because things are getting bad around the neighborhood.

Investigators are trying to figure out if the family was targeted.

The victim is in stable condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Neighbors said nothing like the botched robbery has happened before and some said they didn't feel safe.

"I'm very worried. [I'm] praying and hoping that this person is taken in custody," resident Miros Lava Sanchez said.

Sanchez said she fears the worst.

"If nobody catches him, he can come back and do something to our neighbors or us," Sanchez said.

"[He] came into the residence, possibly with the intentions of just committing a burglary, and probably didn't know that there was anybody home," Detective Jason Sams with the Orange County Sheriff's Office said.